Progenitor’s Folly: Killing Orders

Set in New Caldonis, an overindustrialised city along the lines of China Mieville’s New Crobuzon, you play Miranda, a young scientist, who wakes up in a boardroom with an assassin on her heels.

The game immediately launches into action sequences which would not feel out of place in a movie, though the density of text in some scenes broke the rhythm somewhat. Still, for a game which advertises itself as a fast-paced, adventure thriller, which initially seems a tad much for a debut game, it is technically excellent and very well implemented.

Progenitor’s Folly could be considered almost a genrebreaker for Choicescript games. For one, it eschews the ‘personality questions’ which are commonly used to establish the character’s stats. Instead, it plays more like so-called ‘traditional’ IF. As short as this game is, it is heavily story-based. There is not too much in the way of characterisation, nor in setting the scene. Is this a weakness? Maybe. One must get one’s expectations right.

Despite some tiny spelling/language mistakes here and there, Progenitor’s Folly is a promising start for what the author says is a planned trilogy.